Will Mahathir or any of his Ministers in 2002 Cabinet testify in court of being misled by Ling to approve Port Klang Authority's purchase of PKFZ land with 15-year repayment with compound interest instead of 10 years?

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Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Friday, 30^th July 2010:

The charge preferred against former MCA President and Transport Minister, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, in connection with the RM12.5 million Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal has mystified many.

The charge against Ling reads:

"That you, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002, at Level 4 of the Prime Minister's Office in Bangunan Perdana Putra, cheated the Government by deceiving the Cabinet into approving a land purchase in Pulau Indah for a Mega Distribution Hub project in Port Klang according to the terms agreed between Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd and Port Klang Authority which, among others, are:

the size of the land being 999.5 acres or 43,538,200 sq ft

the purchase price for the land being RM25 per sq ft amounting to a total of RM1,088,456,000

the repayment period being based on a "deferred payment" of 15 years with an interest rate of 7.5% per annum (total RM720,014,600), and thereby dishonestly hiding the fact that the valuation by the Valuation and Property Service Department on the land was RM25 per sq ft for a repayment period of 10 years or RM25.82 per sq ft for a repayment period of 15 years, including coupon/interest that could be charged for the repayment period.

And as such, you purposely induced the Cabinet to give its consent to the purchase, whereas the Cabinet would not have given its consent if the fact had been told to the Cabinet, and the fraud was committed with the knowledge that you could cause a loss to the Government, where you have an interest in the transaction pertaining to the fraud and you are bound under the law to protect it and, as such, you have committed an offence punishable under Section 418 of the Penal Code."

The Prime Minister at the time was Tun Dr. Mahathir. Will Mahathir or any of his Ministers in 2002 Cabinet testify in court of being misled by Ling to approve Port Klang Authority's purchase of PKFZ land with 15-year repayment with compound interest instead of 10 years?

Who were the Ministers in the 2002 Cabinet? The Deputy Prime Minister was Tun Abdullah. Other Ministers in the 2002 Cabinet who are still Ministers include Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was Defence Minister; Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who was Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs; Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who was then Minister for Youth and Sports; Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who was then Entrepreneur Development Minister; Datuk Seri Rais Yatim and Tan Sri Bernard Dompok who were then Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department.

Other Ministers of the 2002 Cabinet no more in Cabinet include Rafidah Aziz (International Trade and Industry); present Public Account Committee Chairman Azmi Khalid (Rural Development); three MCA Ministers at the time, Chua Jui Meng (Health), Fong Chan Onn (Human Resources), Ong Ka Ting (Housing and Local Government), Lim Keng Yaik (Primary Industries), S. Samy Vellu (Works) and Law Hieng Ding (Science, Technology, Environment).

As far back as three years ago in Parliament, during the budget debate in September 2007, I had focused on the main issues of the PKFZ scandal, viz:

Port Klang Authority (PKA) purchase of RM1,000 acres of Pulau Indah land from Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd. for PKFZ at RM25 psf when Treasury and Attorney-General's Chambers have proposed acquisition under Land Acquisition Act at RM10 psf.
The ballooning of the PKFZ cost from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion and its development costs from RM400 million to RM2.8 billion.
The four illegal "letters of support" by Transport Ministers Ling Liong Sik and Chan Kong Choy for the RM4.6 billion bonds issued by KDSB through special purpose vehicles.

These issues have not been adequately dealt with despite the promise by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail last December and the country is still waiting for the Attorney-General to fulfil his pledge to leave no stone unturned to haul in the "big fishes" implicated in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor